Fewer teachers to get pink slips

PAWTUCKET — It’s that dreaded time of year when teachers, typically the newer ones, get a “pink slip” from the school district they have been working so hard to impress. It all has to do with budgetary projections and state law, which requires that any teachers facing a potential job cut in September must be notified by March 1.

Yet, for the first time in many years, the number of teachers pink-slipped this year has been cut by more than half, due to a collaborative effort between school administrators and the teachers union.

At a special meeting of the School Committee held Tuesday night, the committee voted 5-0 to approve a recommendation from interim Schools Superintendent Patricia DiCenso that 57 teachers receive layoff notices. This is a far cry from the figures that topped 120 and 130 in the last few years and sometimes went even higher, and one in which school officials say more realistically reflects the budget and the district’s priority needs.